


we'll always be good company, you and me

by thotsandfeelings



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Series, metaphorical and physical fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:29:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thotsandfeelings/pseuds/thotsandfeelings
Summary: “Why do you have a kitten?”
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	we'll always be good company, you and me

**Author's Note:**

> Fic was 100% inspired by [this](https://twitter.com/bradleywhitford/status/1124407047070445568) and [this](https://twitter.com/bradleywhitford/status/1116489548672847872). Please click for pure joy.
> 
> If you know the song that the title is from - you get extra brownie points ;)

Josh shoulders his way into the apartment, dropping his bag as a yawn wracks through him. 

“Donna,” he calls as he goes into the kitchen. “I’m home.” He doesn’t hear anything, but he knows she left the office before he did. “Donna?”

A soft meow answers him and he frowns as he spins around. Either he’s really tired and losing it or—

Another louder meow interrupts his thoughts. 

“Penny, come here,” he hears and Donna appears from the hallway, holding something small and furry in her arms. 

Josh blinks and rubs his eyes. “Who’s Penny?”

“Penny is a kitten,” she says matter-of-factly. 

“Why do you have a kitten?”

“Josh, you should’ve seen her,” she starts and warning bells sound in the back of his mind at her tone of voice. “She was freezing and all alone in a little cardboard box. I think someone abandoned her.”

“So you brought it to our apartment?” 

She looks up at him and gives him her best pout. “Look at her sweet little face,” she coos, holding the little ginger cat up to her cheek. “She needs a home.”

“There are plenty of homes. Why does it have to be this one?”

“Josh, please,” she whines, throwing in the puppy dog eyes he can never resist. “I can’t leave her.”

“Why ‘Penny’?”

“There was one on the concrete next to her box and it inspired me.” 

“Sam will be glad to hear that they have use after all.”

She ignores him and follows him around the kitchen island. “Can we keep her, Josh? Pretty please? She’s so sweet. Look at her - you can’t say no to this.” The kitten lets out a squeaky meow as if on cue and he grimaces. 

He knows he has absolutely zero chance of not sharing his home with this cat when Donna has that look on her face, so he gives up immediately. “Fine,” he says and she gives him a big smile. “But I’m not cleaning a litter box. I draw the line at scooping poop.”

She doesn’t give him a response, just kisses the kitten and says, “I told you he’d cave.”

Josh rolls his eyes and grabs a beer before going to flop onto the couch. He closes his eyes for a moment and reopens them when there’s a sudden weight on his chest. 

“Will you look after her while I run around the corner and get supplies?”

Josh cranes his neck away from the cat. “What do you mean look after her? Aren't cats supposed to be independent or something?”

“I just mean don’t lose her or accidentally sit on her.” Donna grabs her purse and the kitten turns around a couple times before curling up right under his chin. Donna turns around and gives him the same look she gave him when he told her about his mom sending him a pair of shoes and he rolls his eyes again. “See? She already loves you.” She comes over and leans down and Josh looks at her expectantly for a kiss, but she only kisses the cat again before standing and walking toward the door. “I’ll be right back!”

Josh starts to protest, but the door slams, and he looks down at the little ball of fur under his chin. “Penny, huh?” he says and tentatively scratches behind the cat’s ears with his pointer finger. “Listen, I know Donna is already under your little paw, but I won’t take any funny business, alright? No scratching the walls or furniture. Or me, for that matter,” he adds as an afterthought. The kitten responds by sprawling out and purring loudly as he moves his hand to pet her more firmly. “You are pretty cute, I guess.”

He keeps one hand on the cat as he leans forward to grab the remote and turn on CNN. When a politico starts mouthing off about their patient's bill of rights, Josh shouts at the TV, and Penny jumps before chirping indignantly. 

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly and then freezes because he’s really speaking out loud to a _cat_. How did that happen? Penny decides she’s had enough though and jumps off his chest to the floor. “Hey, where are you going?”

He gets up and follows her, but she takes off and he loses track once he gets to the bedroom. He starts panicking when he can’t hear or see the cat anywhere. Donna told him not to lose her and it only took him 15 minutes to do just that. He gets down on his hands and knees to look under the bed, clicking his tongue and calling “here kitty kitty”, but she’s still nowhere to be found. He crawls around the bedroom and into the bathroom, talking in a high pitched voice to try and find this damn cat, and he doesn’t hear the front door open or Donna come into the bedroom. 

“What are you doing?” she asks, amused as he whips his head around and looks up at her from his perch on the carpet. 

“I yelled at the TV and she ran off. I don’t know where she went.”

“Josh,” she says, her voice now also panicked. “I told you not to lose her! I haven’t kitten-proofed anything yet!”

“I’m sorry,” he exclaims, standing back up and taking the bags from her hands to set them on the bed. “She’s really fast!”

Donna starts crawling around now and calling for Penny as Josh looks behind the curtains. He goes into the closet when Donna heads for the bathroom and as soon as he turns the light on, he spots an orange fluff ball in his shoe. He leans down and picks up the sneaker, taking it and the kitten into the bathroom. 

“Donna.”

“Did you find her?” He doesn’t say anything, just waits for her to turn around. “Oh, look at you,” she coos, reaching for the shoe. “You like daddy’s shoes, don’t you?”

Josh freezes. _“_ _Daddy_ _?”_

Donna doesn’t hear him though as she walks out with Penny still in his shoe. She sets her on the table and grabs her camera. “You are just the cutest little thing. A little penny loafer,” she says, laughing at her own joke as she grabs the cat out of the shoe once she’s through with the little photoshoot.

Josh’s ears are still buzzing at _daddy_ as he watches Donna flit around with a small plastic tub filled with litter and she puts it in a corner in the bathroom. Is this supposed to be a sign or something? Is she subliminally telling him she wants kids? He hasn’t even proposed yet, he can’t handle the thought of kids right now. A full blown freak out is bubbling in his chest, trying to claw its way out of him, and he exits the hallway hastily before he explodes. 

He paces around the kitchen and living room, opening random cabinets for no reason before closing them again. He actually jumps when Donna walks in behind him.

“What’s with you?” she asks, going to the fridge to grab some supplies for a salad. 

“Are you trying to tell me something here?”

“What?"

“Because it’s comin’ in loud and clear, alright? I hear you.”

“Hear what?” she asks, completely confused now. “What’s going on?”

“You’re trying to ease me in with a cat and see how that goes and if I don’t accidentally kill it or harm it in some way, that means I’m fit for fatherhood, right?”

“ _Fatherhood_? Who said anything about—"

“You did! You called me daddy!” He can see the moment where she finally catches up on the conversation and he’s surprised when she bursts out laughing. “Donna, I don’t—"

She drops the lettuce on the counter and walks over to wrap her arms around him in a big hug. “I love you so much, you know that?” she says, still chuckling against him. 

_"Donna."_

“She’s really just a cat, Josh. It’s not some secret message that I’m ready to have kids. You can relax. I won’t call you that again, I'm sorry.”

“Really?” he asks skeptically, leaning back to look her in the eye. She’s smiling brightly at him and it helps ease the anxiety in his stomach. 

“Really,” she murmurs and kisses him soundly on the mouth. “I like where we’re at, you know? We have a good thing going.”

“I agree,” he states, a small smile creeping over his face. “A really good thing going.” He kisses her again and picks her up to plop her down on the counter. “I mean, an immaculately good thing. _Mind-blowingly_ good.”

She giggles and wraps her arms around him again as he steps between her legs. His hand creeps inside her skirt, but before he gets where he wants to be, a soft meow stops him, and he feels something start crawling up his pant leg. He looks down and sees Penny looking up at him expectantly from his thigh. Donna laughs again and grabs the kitten, holding her close to her chest. 

“Okay, listen,” he says and leans in toward the cat. “We gotta lay down some ground rules, alright? You can’t just come in here like you own the place and demand our attention.”

Penny meows again and snuggles into Donna’s neck. “I think she can.”

Josh huffs and reaches for the kitten who squawks indignantly at him as he sets her back down on the floor. “Stay,” he says and turns to Donna to resume their kissing, but Penny jumps onto his leg again and scurries up to the counter before hopping onto Donna’s lap. “Yeah, this isn’t gonna work for me.”

Donna laughs happily as she holds Penny in one hand and grabs Josh’s shirt in the other to pull him closer. “You’re just gonna have to compromise,” she murmurs, kissing him gently. 

“With a _cat?”_

“For my love and affection, yes.”

Josh sighs and looks down at the cat. “You can have her for an hour, but then she’s all mine, you hear me?” He waggles his finger in Penny’s face and she swats at it. “I’ll take that as a yes.” 

He kisses Donna’s cheek before stepping back. “Do you want some salad?” she asks, looking down at the kitten, but talking to Josh. “I can make a big one.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of a hamburger.” She looks over at him and raises her eyebrow. “Or a salad will be fine, actually.” 

Donna grins and hops off the counter, setting Penny down and going back to her ingredients she’d taken out earlier. He watches as she works and grins despite himself as Penny weaves in and out of her legs. She scurries away after a while, finding one of the many toys Donna bought and chases it around the living room as they sit down to eat. They talk about their day and their upcoming Hanukkah plans. 

“We’re gonna have to find a sitter,” Donna says as Josh finishes the dishes. “We’ll be gone for four days, she can’t stay here all alone.”

“Doesn't the vet do that kind of thing?”

“Josh, they keep them in a cold metal cage most of the time. I’ll only do that as a last resort. I’m sure someone is staying in town and can come check on her.” She walks out of the kitchen and toward the bedroom. “Will you ask Sam? He likes cats.”

Josh comes up behind her just as she’s stripping her clothes off and wraps his arms around her. “We have two weeks to figure that out,” he murmurs and kisses behind her ear. “And Penny’s hour is up. You’re mine now.”

She smirks and brings her hand up to his cheek as he continues to suck lightly on her neck. She tilts to the side and lets him work her up, his hands roaming over and under the tank top she’s got on, and when he rubs her through her panties, she turns around and kisses him. 

They stumble back to the bed and she works the buttons open on his shirt so she can slide it off his shoulders. He groans when she goes for his belt buckle and immediately cups him through his boxers. When she pulls him forward and falls back on the bed, he goes to make quick work of her underwear, but a sudden orange ball of fluff flies up onto the bed and crawls across Donna's stomach to her chest. 

Josh freezes, one knee on the bed, and stares down at his almost-naked girlfriend as she pets the damn cat and stares up at him amusedly. 

“Donna.”

“Yeah?”

“I was kind of in the middle of somethin’.”

“I think she’s ready for bed.” 

He reaches forward and snags Penny who meows pathetically. He cradles her to his bare chest and walks her to the bathroom where he sees Donna’s already made a little bed in a cardboard box, fit with what looks to be a fuzzy towel and one of his torn up t-shirts. He puts Penny in the box and plugs in the night light before closing the door. He goes back to the bedroom and sees Donna propped up on her elbows, a lazy grin on her face, and he makes quick work of his trousers that are still hanging onto his hips before climbing fully on the bed. 

“You didn’t need to lock her in,” she says, staying on her elbows as he kisses up her stomach. 

“I require your full attention,” he mumbles. “Besides, I’m not really into exhibition.” 

“She’s a cat, Josh. She doesn’t know what we’re doing.”

“And we’re gonna keep it that way.” He pushes her to lie flat so he can roll them over and get her bra off. “She’s not allowed to sleep in here.”

“Okay,” she says, indulging him. 

“I’m serious.” She only grins and reaches into his boxers, gripping him in her hand, and he moans. “God, Donna. Just take ‘em off,” he whines when she continues to stroke him. 

“You’re awfully needy tonight.”

“You were asleep before I got home last night,” he says, lifting his hips as she finally pulls his boxers down. “And we were both too tired the night before. I miss you.”

Her eyes grow soft and he rolls them again so he can drag her panties down and kiss her properly. She brings her fingers into his hair. “You’re just a big softy, aren’t you?” He rolls his eyes and is about to protest, but she kisses him again to shut him up. “I miss you, too,” she whispers, smiling against his lips. She’s about to reach for him again when there’s a faint meow from down the hall. She quirks an eyebrow at Josh. 

“She’s not coming in here,” he mumbles again and he moves down her body, stopping her inevitable sarcasm as a moan escapes her, and distracting her thoroughly into toe-curling bliss.

* * *

(Later, when his body is sated and wrapped tightly around Donna’s sleeping form, he hears the meow again. He silently slides out of the bed and tiptoes to the bathroom and cracks the door open to find Penny looking up at him expectantly. 

“I’m feeling benevolent,” he whispers as he picks her up and takes her back to the bedroom. “But don’t get used to it.”

He slides back into bed and pulls Donna over onto his chest. He feels rather than sees the kitten crawl to his other side and squeeze into the small space between his shoulder and the pillow, stretching her paw across his neck until it's in Donna's hair and marking her spot to sleep for the night and many years to come.)


End file.
